![]() The strange-looking third controller grip allowed the N64 controller to be held on the two outside grips like a “regular” controller, but the center-mounted stick encourages players to view it as the primary control scheme. (It’s also a detail Nintendo stuck with on its succeeding consoles up until the Wii U.)īut the magic of the N64’s controller is how Nintendo used the design to teach players how to use the new joystick and navigate in new planes. It’s something reflected in my favorite design cue of the N64 joystick: the octagonal well it rests in, which subtly cues players toward the eight cardinal directions they can tilt the stick and subsequently move their character on-screen. Moving around a polygonal three-dimensional world meant players needed the ability to navigate more freely than what a traditional D-pad (designed for grid-like pixels on past consoles) would allow. One reason for that decision was the shift to 3D gaming, a change Nintendo helped usher in with the N64. Prior to the N64, joysticks were limited largely to flight simulator enthusiasts looking for the most realistic platform to mirror actual flight (although earlier consoles like the Atari 2600 did feature a joystick input, albeit for 2D gaming.) But the N64 controller offered a joystick as the main control scheme for every type of game and placed it front and center in players’ hands. Nintendo didn’t invent the joystick or the idea of using it for games, but it did popularize the joystick as a default control option for mainstream 3D games in a way that no one else had done before. Nintendo didn’t invent the joystick, but it did popularize it ![]()
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